GO5PEL - SUBSTITUTION (Jan 22 2017) - Mike Armstrong

And you can turn in your Bibles to uh Romans chapter five, that's where we're gonna be today.

And good morning, Harvest.

So great to see you uh all out here this morning, and welcome back to our gospel series where uh we're looking at five words, right?

Five words that really get down uh to the foundations of what the gospel message is.

And so if you were here two weeks ago, uh we started off with the word God, right?

That there actually is a God, uh, that he exists and that he created everything.

And he created you and I, uh, he created all people actually to know him personally.

He created us to have an intimate uh and life-giving relationship with him.

And then what did we talk about last week?

We talked about the word sin, didn't we?

Our sin basically uh torpedoed all of that, the intimacy and the harmony uh that existed between uh Adam and Eve, uh, and our God uh was uh was destroyed, right?

It was it was wrecked, and and our sin, what it does is it drives a wedge now of separation uh between us and God.

And uh I don't know if you realize this from last week, but that is a uh I don't know, it's a pretty significant problem for us.

We have no way of us on our own uh in any way, shape, or form of getting back to the Lord and repairing that uh relationship.

Now that's kind of a big deal.

And if you were here last week, I mean it's uh it's a pretty heavy word, right?

As we talk about sin and as we uh start to plumb the depths of it and we start to see how bleak uh it really is uh for us.

Well, well, today we're gonna be looking at the word substitution.

The word substitution.

So we're starting to get into now uh the good news of the good news of Jesus Christ, right?

We're starting to get into uh some of the good stuff here.

Now, substitution uh simply means Christ in my place.

Christ in my place.

That's what we're talking about.

So, all right, so so because our sin, right, you're in my sin, because that has separated us from our Creator, okay, we don't have the spiritual, okay, the moral capital, if you will, okay, to be able to earn our forgiveness from God.

We don't have any ability to be able to kind of mend this broken relationship with him.

So, so the only way that this was ever gonna get fixed is if God himself stepped in.

And that's exactly what he did.

He stepped in and made a way for us.

And he came to earth, he entered into his creation in the form of a man.

He came as Jesus Christ.

And he came and he lived the perfectly moral life that you and I couldn't, okay, and then and then died the death that we should have.

That's the way that that works, and that's really that substitution right there.

And you want to look at it this way it's our filthiness, okay, our sinfulness, our our polluted unrighteousness transferred to Jesus Christ, and his righteousness, his perfection transferred to us.

Right?

That's what happens the moment that you put your faith in Jesus.

So he died, right?

His death so that we could have life.

His death so that we could have life.

And so this is what we're gonna be getting into today.

We're already getting into it, right?

And we're gonna be talking about what this means for you and I.

We're gonna be talking about what this means for any person anywhere who would put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so we're gonna be reading this in just a second, but I really want to challenge you because I know that we have, you know, in any church, you've got a bunch of people in the room uh who have known the Lord for a long time.

Right, you've got that.

And in some of us, it's been it's been decades.

And for you, maybe you've kind of you've kind of put some distance between you and the Lord in terms of understanding the gospel message.

And you haven't done it necessarily intentionally, but if you were to kind of think about your own heart and your own passion and your own desire right now, you've kind of gone dry.

Right, you've gone dry about who the Lord is and what he has accomplished in you uh through your salvation.

So I really want to challenge you as we talk through this, as we read through this and unpack it all, really pray and think.

Lord, would you stir up new affections in me for you?

Lord, did you transform my motives?

We're gonna get into all of that as we go, but let's read the passage right now.

Romans chapter 5, starting in verse 6.

Romans 5 · chapter mention

It says this, For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person, one would even dare to die.

But God, love that, but God shows his love for us, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

For if we if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Lord, we come before you now.

Lord, recognizing that we need to be fired up about this core belief, Lord, this this core reality that has impacted most of us in this room, our eternity forever.

Lord, would you forgive us for not seeing this as as awesome as it really is?

Lord, again, would you begin to till the soil of our hearts again, Lord?

Lord, we need that as we harden over time and we need a fresh sense of how amazing you are and what you have done for us.

Lord, you have stepped in and paid the price that our sins deserve.

Lord, I pray that we would be excited, Lord.

As Paul says, I pray that we would rejoice as Harvest Bible Chapel in the good news of the gospel.

Lord, would you stir this up in us?

We pray.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

All right, so what's what's substitution uh all about?

Well, well, substitution means that there is now a solution.

Right?

There's a solution to our sin problem, and that's that Jesus died in our place.

Jesus died in our place.

So here's the first thing if you're following along in your notes.

Okay, though we were helpless and estranged, though we were helpless and estranged.

Now, if you want to again jump into the text with me here, take a look at verse 6, what does that say?

It says, For while we were still weak, yea, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

Okay, so what you'll probably notice there uh right away is that we're kind of picking up where we left off uh last week talking about sin.

And Paul says here about our sin.

What does it make us?

Okay, there's kind of two words there that you kind of pop out at you immediately.

It says it makes us weak and ungodly.

Okay, what does that word weak mean?

Well, it means it means powerless, right?

It means it means powerless and and helpless.

Okay, so you ever seen maybe like uh like a turtle, right?

And you ever see a turtle flip upside down in its shell before?

I don't know if you've ever had a pet turtle or you've maybe just seen this on TV or something, or you're at the beach and you see this, and you ever watch a turtle like trying desperately to get back up on its feet?

It's like the most sad and like pathetic thing to watch everywhere.

Come on, but like you can do it.

Like just try, right?

And but there's nothing he can do can right himself and get him back into the right position.

And so oftentimes, if you've ever seen a turtle and you're not terrified of touching animals, maybe sometimes what you would do is just grab it and kind of like help it out, right?

Like flip it back over on its feet and allow it to get going.

That's like the exact same uh position, basically, that we are in uh when it comes to our sin, right?

We are unable to right ourselves, we are unable to get ourselves back into the right place uh between us and the Lord.

We can't get back onto the right terms with him at all, not on our own.

You know what does the word ungodly mean there?

It means that we are thoroughly unlike God.

Right?

Pretty simple.

We are thoroughly unlike him, and again, because of our sin.

We couldn't be, we couldn't be further away from him.

We couldn't be, we couldn't be farther, we couldn't be more estranged than we really are, and then we are in that position.

Okay, and then verse 10, if you were to actually jump down there, it uses also the word enemies, right?

So our so our sin, we have to we have to realize this, that we have to we have to view our sin properly.

Our sin is not just some like clumsy mistake, right, that we make.

Like you ever like spilled milk when you're like pouring cereal for your kids in the morning, like, oops, you know, didn't mean to do that, kind of wipe it up.

That's not what our sin is, right?

Our sin is not just some kind of, again, mistake that we do, oh well, I guess we'll just move on.

No, our our sin puts us at opposite ends of the battlefield with God, right?

He is over there, we are over here.

That is like the losing side every time.

We are not, ought, not gonna win that ever.

And so, what is Paul doing here?

Why would he go into all of this and why would he continue to address it and talk about it in different ways?

Well, what he's trying to do, he's trying to set up for us this disparity, he's trying to show us that there is such a disparity between the goodness and the holiness of God and us apart from him.

Right?

That is what he is doing there.

Right?

We are so far from being like him.

We are so far from being where we need to be, and we are too frail, too pathetic to do anything about it.

Right?

That is the position that we find ourselves in.

And so he's trying to set us up here and just to show us, because he's about to release it here, reveal it, just how amazing the substitution of Christ really is for you and I.

Now, I think the challenge for uh for any of us, because of the pride that is kind of deep within our hearts, is that we have a really hard time seeing just how badly we need the Lord.

Right?

We have a hard time kind of sensing on a day-to-day basis this desperation for him.

You know, and I'm sure you've experienced that before, and and maybe you're even experiencing it here this morning, and you just you kind of feel dry, you sort of feel like like dust inside, and and you don't sense this, like I need the Lord mentality.

Well, that's exactly why he goes into this next part here.

And he says this, he says, at the right time, okay, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.

And so what he's talking about here is he's referring to the timing in which God chose to send Jesus for us.

Now, have you ever wondered this?

You ever thought about this?

You know, Adam and Eve, they sinned in the garden, right?

Have you ever wondered or questioned, like, why wouldn't God just send Jesus immediately?

Right?

Like, why wouldn't He got why would He pay the price right away?

You know, what's up with this, you know, like 4,000-year gap, right, between the fall of man and the cross?

You know, where mankind is just like suffering and stumbling and tripping over our own mistakes and more hurt and more sin and more pain, and just the picture gets bleaker and bleaker and worse and worse.

Like, what's up with that?

Like, why didn't Christ come in right away here?

Well, the answer is because God chose, okay, in his sovereignty, he is good, he is in control, he knows all things.

He decided to give us the law.

He decided to give us the law.

Now, if you've if you know what that is, you know we're talking kind of about the new or the old testament now, right?

And and and God gave mankind, he gave, he chose his people Israel, to give them the law.

And it all started with what?

Started with the Ten Commandments, didn't it?

Right?

And Moses revealed that on the on the two tablets there, and it was it was uh, what were some of the laws?

The laws were like, you know, obey your father and mother, have have no other gods before me, you know, those types of things.

And so, you know, what was what was that all about?

Well, I mean, if you know the the the the Old Testament even further, you know that the law was was developed even further in the book of uh Leviticus, right?

And you see, and if you've ever read that, you're like, wow, like there are a lot of details in here, right?

A lot of things that that uh that the Lord says we should do and should not do.

And sometimes we wonder, you know, what's what's kind of up with that?

Right?

Well, the law, okay, it was a set of you know, very comprehensive rules that were intended uh to accomplish a very specific purpose.

And it was intended to show God's people and all people, really, a bunch of things.

Okay, first of all, it was to show us who God is and what he's like.

Right?

It's to show us as you read through all of that and as you study that and you look at that, you'll understand that wow, God is holy.

Right?

God is good and he is awesome and he is creator, right?

And he he is way bigger, way more amazing and awesome than I will ever be, and more awesome than I can even wrap my mind around.

And so that's one purpose of the law for sure.

He's trying to show us who he is.

Okay, but he's also trying to show us what it took to please him.

He's trying to show us that, what it took to please him.

And if you look at the law and you see all of these rules, what you start to realize pretty quickly is that it took perfection.

It took perfection to truly be in a right relationship with God.

We have to follow everything perfectly, exactly to the letter of the law.

Now that should probably deeply rattle us.

Right?

It should rattle us because one of the other purposes of the law was to show us that there is absolutely no way, know-how that we could ever obey it.

Right?

No chance.

And a lot of people have that kind of mixed up, and they think that, well, kind of here's the standard, and as long as I kind of come up somewhere near it, and they sort of in their own mind create their own bar, right?

And they think if I kind of come near it, then you know I must be okay, and and maybe at the end of my life, you know, God will kind of measure the good and the bad.

And as long as I've been kind of hopefully mostly good, then the Lord will maybe, you know, kind of let me into heaven, maybe.

I hope.

We'll see.

If the law, it was set up to accomplish these very specific purpose, uh, purposes.

And at the end of the day, they were to show us that we were all a bunch of rule breakers.

Right?

We all are, every single one of us.

We are far too flawed.

We are far too broken to meet the expectations, to meet the righteous requirements of God's law.

I mean, we just we simply can't do it.

Right?

None of us are good enough.

We've all sinned more than once, a million times.

And what it was to do, it was supposed to unearth this inner realization, this desperation in us that, you know, I I can't fix this and I need help.

Right?

I need help.

I need someone else to step in and fix this for me.

So you see that?

You see that that's why the law came in there?

And that's why it says, at the right time, right?

At the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.

God decided that in the right time, when the time was right, when the law had had its proper effect, and and mankind had enough of an understanding that we were broken, that we were so far apart from the Lord, he's like, God was like, now it's the time for Jesus to come in and to fix this once and for all.

To die on our behalf, in our place.

That's what substitution really is.

Okay, so if you have a you know personal relationship with God, it means that you have come to a deep understanding at some point of what the law says, and then and then the fact that that you fall so short of it, and you realize, wow, I I am lost on my own and I need some help.

And you have you have recognized that that God has sent his son Jesus Christ to die in the cross for you.

And you realize, Lord, I I need you, Lord, would you be my savior?

Lord, would you forgive me of my sin?

That I look to you to do on the cross what I could never do.

Right?

And that's what the gospel is, and that's how it has its effect on us.

Okay, so though we were helpless and estranged, here's the second thing God revealed his love.

Okay, God revealed his love.

Now take a look at verse 7 now.

Okay, verse 7 says this for one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person, one would dare even to die.

Okay, but God shows his love for us that while we were still sinners.

Okay, stop right there for a sec.

Now you might look at that and wonder, like, what's what's that all about?

Like, what's what's he trying to get at here?

Well, what he's trying to say is that uh, you know, it's extremely kind of unlikely or extremely rare that someone would sacrifice their own life on behalf of someone who's generally speaking a good person.

You know, someone who has you know high character, you know, uh you know, a great person.

Right?

He says it's pretty unlikely that someone would do that, but it's even more rare that someone would give up their life for a total dirt bag.

Right?

It's way more rare that you would do that.

Okay, put it this way.

I'm very blessed to have a number of really great friends, right?

Great guys in my life who I can, you know, who I trust, who I can share just about anything with, right?

And guys that I know aren't gonna judge me and they're gonna pray for me and they're gonna support me and push me towards Jesus Christ and challenge me and all of that, you know, great guys, right?

I love them.

Here's the thing given the chance to die for them, right?

I I mean, I I don't know that I can stand here in front of all of you and and like legitimately, confidently say that for sure I would do it.

Right?

Could I say that?

Could you say that?

I mean, I hope that I would.

I hope that I would be willing to lay down my life for the sake of a friend, but I mean, in the heat of the moment, do any of us really know if we would do that?

I mean, maybe we would chicken out.

Right?

Maybe with something would come and we'd care more about our own skin and all of that.

Okay, but I can tell you this.

Okay, that guy that like broke into my car a while ago and stole my sunglasses out of my car.

Okay, I'm not exactly lining up to take a bullet for that dude.

Right?

Right?

I like those sunglasses, right?

They were nice.

Right?

Here's here's the point.

Okay, the point is that we'd we'd maybe die for you know a good person, right?

A righteous person, uh a person with with high quality and character, someone that we love, all of that, right?

Extremely unlikely to die for someone who's a jerk, right?

Extremely unlikely to do that.

Okay, but Jesus, what did he do?

Right?

He loved us enough, right, to die for us when we were way beyond the point of being scumbags, right?

We were way beyond that.

We were we were enemies of him.

Again, opposite ends of the battlefield.

Okay, that is the love of God for us.

That's what he's done.

Now, one pastor said this, and I love it.

He said, God was inclined to love us when we were enemies, and that's our security and assurance.

Saved, we can never be as wretched as we are before salvation, and he loved us totally then.

Isn't that great?

Now listen, God's love for you is far more extreme.

It is, it is far more passionate and total and complete and profound than you and I will ever understand.

Right?

Not totally.

I mean, you could spend every waking moment between now and eternity thinking about this, meditating on this, reading about it, praying about it.

We will never plunge the depths of all of that.

God's love is just that deep and that incredible.

I mean, that's what our substitution is, that's what Christ's substitution for us is.

Right?

It's like God is pulling back the curtains and He's like, He's revealing it to us.

He's like, I sent my son Jesus, there it is.

That's my love.

This is the extent that I'm willing to go for you.

And it's because I love you.

Okay, substitution means what?

It means that we're helpless and estranged.

God revealed his love.

How do you do that?

Well, he did it by giving us his son.

He did it by giving us his son.

We see here at the end of verse 8, if you were to finish that off, I kind of chopped you off partway through before, but it says this.

It says, Christ died for us.

Right?

Christ died for us.

Now, if you're gonna highlight really anything in your Bible, if you're into that kind of thing, that's really it.

Right?

That is the definition of substitution uh right there.

That's where we really pull it out here in this text.

Now, for us, what does it mean?

It means on behalf of us.

That's what he did.

Now, I think one of the probably kind of primary questions that can come up, again, if you're thinking deeply about this, is why?

Right?

Like, why?

Why did Christ have to die?

I see that he died, right?

But why did he, why did he have to do it?

Like, why couldn't have God just kind of kept the Old Testament, you know, sacrificial system going?

Right?

Where it was just, you know, animals that were shedding blood.

Why did why did Jesus himself have to die?

You know, wasn't the sacrificial system kind of cutting it?

Wasn't it working out just fine?

Well here are a couple of verses that you can jot down if you like that kind of help us understand that Christ did in fact have to die for us to pay the price once and for all.

26, 39.

Matthew 26, 39.

And this is Jesus speaking, and he says this in the garden.

You remember that he was praying before he was led away to his death.

He says, Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.

And then he says, Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.

Right?

Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.

Okay, so the fact that Jesus, what did he do?

He always prayed in accordance with God's will.

Right?

He never stepped outside of that.

He always prayed in line with God's will.

And the fact that he did go to the cross leads us logically to believe that it was not possible for Christ to avoid death.

He had to go to the cross.

According to God, Jesus had to die.

He had to die.

How about this one?

Luke 24, 26.

Luke 24, 26 says, you know, it was basically Jesus, and this is after he had risen from the dead.

And you remember that his disciples were, you know, walking along the road and they were grieving his death.

And remember he was actually with them and they didn't recognize him, and they didn't realize all of that.

Well, what does he say?

He says, Was it not necessary?

Right, that was the word, wasn't it?

Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things?

He asked them that.

He uses that word necessary.

And he he explained to them, right, through the Old Testament and how the prophets pointed to the fact that the Messiah must die.

It was going to happen.

But again, you might be thinking, well, what about animals though?

You know, what was up with that?

And the shed blood.

And, you know, maybe, again, maybe that was still good enough.

You know, why did it have to go all the way to Jesus going to the cross?

Well, Hebrews 10, verse 4.

Hebrews 10:4

A lot of you would know this verse.

It says what?

It says, it is impossible, it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin.

Right?

It's impossible.

And so animals taking away the sins of God's people.

That was never the goal.

That was never the intention or the end goal, right?

It was, you know, animal sacrifice.

Rather, it served as kind of a temporary placeholder before the Messiah would come.

And it was to be a constant reminder as they had these ceremonies where they would bring a bull or a goat or a dove and they would sacrifice it and the blood would shed.

It was to be a reminder to the people, again, of what?

How broken and lost they were, and how badly they truly needed God.

And so that's what it was.

And that's why God had to send someone, his son, Jesus, to go to the cross, to pay it once and for all.

Jesus was the perfect sacrifice.

Right?

He was sinless.

And God, uh when Jesus went to the cross, God said that it was enough, right?

That that satisfies me now, what Christ has done for us.

That secured our forgiveness.

That cleansed us of our blood guilt.

Right?

That's why he had to die.

He did it for you.

Right?

And he did it for me as well.

There was no other way.

None at all.

And what was it to do?

It was to appease God's wrath.

To appease God's wrath.

That's the fourth thing.

Okay, verse 9, take a look.

He says, Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

You know, first of all, that first part there that says, you know, much more shall we be saved.

Okay, what Paul's doing is he's he's telling us, you know, what you know what's what's coming, you know, what I'm about to explain is even more incredible than what I've already just just shared.

It's more overwhelming, it's it's even more awesome than what's preceded.

And so Paul's declaring, he's saying here, hey, if it wasn't enough that Jesus Christ justifies us, which means that what?

He declares us righteous, he declares us pure and good now in the sight of God.

That's what happens the moment you place your faith in the Lord Jesus.

He's like, if that wasn't amazing enough on its own, and it is, he's like, he also saves us from God's wrath.

Right?

And think about that.

And so what he's doing, he's just like packing good news on top of good news.

He's like, it's just getting better and better here.

It's kind of like those, you know, those game show hosts, right?

And you see the contestant at the very end, and he's like, not only do you get like the$50,000, but what else do you get?

You also get like a brand new car, right?

He's setting up, he's piling more and more good stuff on, right?

And all of that's a joke compared to you know what's happening, what's happening here.

He's like, yeah, when you put your faith in Jesus Christ, he declares you good and whole and pure, which again is amazing enough on its own.

It's wild, but he doesn't leave you at just that.

There's more to it.

He's telling us here that God will never pour his wrath out on you for all eternity.

He will never do it.

I mean, do you do you grasp that?

Does that register even a little bit?

You know, does that make you think, wow?

Right?

God's wrath is satisfied now.

The penalty has been paid.

Right?

You and I, we're never gonna be on the wrong end of that stick.

Right?

It's never gonna happen.

Christ owned the punishment for you and for me.

He owned it.

He he received it, he absorbed it.

That's why Peter says there that he bore our sins in his body.

He absorbed that for you.

Okay, and then don't miss this.

Romans 5, 9 again.

It says, we will be saved by him from the wrath of God.

Okay, so yeah, Jesus steps in, right?

We know this.

He steps in, he goes to the cross, he saves us from the Father's wrath.

Okay, but let's all not forget here that we worship a triune God, right?

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit eternally existing as one God.

And so we need to understand this.

We need to understand that God is saving us from Himself.

God is saving us from Himself.

I mean, it is just this like mind-blowing picture of God's holiness and righteousness, and at the same time, his fierce, white hot anger and his wrath, and you know, all of that kind of wrapped into this one glorious act.

Right?

That is that is what he has done.

I mean, does that not just cause you to marvel when you think about that?

There is no one besides you.

Right?

You are incredible, you you are amazing, Lord.

I I worship you with everything, everything that I've got.

Right?

Though we were helpless and estranged, God revealed his love for us by giving us his son to appease his wrath, and then this, the last thing, and reconcile us with himself.

And reconcile us with himself.

Let's look at look at the last two verses here, 10 and 11.

He says, For if we were s uh if if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Alright, well, you might notice there that you see that phrase again, much more.

You see that again?

And he also says, much more than that.

And so Paul, he kind of keeps this whole kind of thing moving, right?

He keeps building and compounding the good news on top of good news.

And he's and he's saying, but if you thought that that Christ saving you from wrath was the end of it, you know, check this out.

Right again, think back to like the game show host, right?

He's like, you've got the$50,000, you've got the you know, the brand new car, but you're going to Hawaii and you've got like 17 jet skis, right?

He's got all of this, he's he's compiling it over and over.

Okay, it just gets better and better.

This is what Paul's saying.

He's saying, he's like, if God has the power, right, and if he has the will to save us from sin, okay, through the death of his son, much more does he have the power and the will to keep us saved.

He has the power and the will to do that through the life of his son.

That's what he's saying.

And so now obviously the words there, reconciliation, reconcile, what does it do?

They're important, right?

Because it says it like three times.

You see that in the text?

What does it mean?

It means to settle the dispute.

Right?

It means to reunite, to repair, to merge, to patch up, all of that.

Okay, so so God, what Paul's saying is that God restores our sin-wrecked relationship with him, and he keeps us saved, and he keeps it restored forever.

Forever.

Nothing can separate us from the love of God.

That's not getting broken.

That's not shattering, that's not falling apart for all eternity.

I mean, we as humans who have put our faith in Jesus Christ, we've hit the jackpot with this.

Do you sense that?

Do you sense that this is such good news?

I mean, we should be rejoicing in God, as Paul says there in verse 11.

Rejoicing.

I think sometimes we read that and we're like, rejoice.

And we kind of read it with this boring way.

Paul was fired up about this, and we should be too.

Right?

We should be excited about what the Lord uh has done for us.

And I mean, doesn't, as you kind of think about that, and again, as you absorb it, doesn't it just make you want to give over everything to him?

Right, Lord, you held nothing back for me when you went to the cross.

You sent your own son.

You know, shame on me for holding back different areas of my life.

Lord, I want to give all of this over to you.

My life is yours, Lord.

Do whatever you want with me.

Lord, I am yours forever.

Use me as you see fit.

I am your servant.

Right?

That should be the response of our hearts.

And as we again, as we start to absorb this truth, the truth of the gospel, what it's what it begins to do is it begins to affect our motives, doesn't it?

Right?

We begin to want to follow the Lord.

As we grasp this clear picture of who he is and what he's done, we start to be like, I want to give you my life.

You know, and pretty soon the kind of the default mode that we fall into, which is like this kind of boring and drab and kind of lame Christianity, where we're, you know, we're all about just simply following rules and obedience, and you know, it's Sunday, so I guess I'll trudge to church.

This is what I should do, and you know, I'm gonna, I guess I'll open up this book that I haven't looked at in like three months, and you know, I guess I'm gonna do this, because isn't this what a good Christian should do?

And you know, I do we you know we do all of these things, and I serve, you know, to you know, kind of punch my card and punch out at the end of it, and all of it in some ways is kind of to keep God off my back, keep him at a distance so I can kind of continue to do my thing.

All of that gets blown to smithereens as the gospel starts to have an effect, and the motive of your heart now becomes I want to do this.

Right?

I want to give my life for you.

I want you to go into the areas of my life that I have been keeping separate.

The areas where I'm hurting, the areas where I am in pain, the areas where I have too much pride to even face it.

Maybe I don't even realize that those areas exist.

Lord, you are Lord of all.

I truly want you to be Lord of every area of my life.

I want to give every single thing over to you because I am gripped by who you are.

I am gripped by what you have done.

You died in my place.

What else would I want to do?

Why would I want to give you anything less?

Through Christ, you have been reconciled forever.

He's reconciled you, he's bridged that gap.

There is no more separation.

All of that bad news we talked about so much last week, and we had to.

The good news is that that is now done.

That is now over.

And so I really want to speak to you right now.

If you have not yet trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, do it.

Do it.

Don't wait any longer.

Don't let another second, another moment go by.

Recognize that, yeah, you are broken.

So are all we all are.

None of us are good when you break it right down.

Only Jesus is good.

And the only way that we can be considered righteous is if we absorb this substitution for us.

Is if we ask him to be our savior, if we ask him to come into our life and be our Lord, would you do that right now?

Would you just admit humbly in this moment that you need him?

You confess your sin.

And to purify you from all unrighteousness.

Do that if you haven't.

Please talk to somebody today.

Talk to one of us.

We would love to walk you through this if you have any more questions at all.

But let me also speak to you, church.

Right?

Those of you who have done just that.

Some of you it might have been like last week.

For others of you, it was like four decades ago.

Right?

Are you still stirred up by this?

Are you excited about this?

Are you passionate about what the Lord has done?

And I would really encourage you that if you are in any ways feeling like cold about this, even as after we have talked through this, we've worked through this passage, I would challenge you and encourage you just to pray.

Lord, would you soften my heart to this?

What you have done is nothing short of astounding.

It really is amazing.

It is the greatest news in human history that you have gone to the cross in my place, that you have given up your life so that I could have new life and have it forevermore.

Pray that.

Ask the Lord to stir you up.

So maybe spend some time this week, you know, every day maybe just going through this passage and praying and be like, Lord, I want to be excited about this.

I want my motives to change.

Um, to try and because I'm trying to earn something from you.

You've earned it all for me.

You've done it for me through Jesus Christ.

I pray that I would simply respond out of gratitude.

Lord, would you do this in me?

Would you do that in us?

I'm gonna pray right now that this would be a church that would love the good news of the gospel, that we would love it, that we would become disciplined and joyful in that discipline of continuing to remind ourselves of this so that our hearts could just burst into flames, be so on fire for Him, so passionate, no matter what we're doing, no matter where we are, no matter who we're talking to.